Misplaced
by CrimsonAdri
Summary: She'd misplaced her courage, her independence and sometimes even her will to live; and that was before the crash. With her friend gone, surrounded by strangers, Melanie didn't know if her mind could handle it. It seemed like the worse thing to ever happen to her, but it might have been just what she needed. (Sounds like angst but I swear there is minimal angst.)
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer(Only posting this once): I don't own** ** _Lost_** **, its characters or plot. I do however own any OCs in this and anything plot wise that isn't from the original show (unless otherwise stated). This is my first Lost fic but definitely not my first fic.**

 **I finally finished watching Lost (On Netflix) so…. I'm watching it again, because I love it, and I'm writing this fic while I do it. Now obviously this will follow the main story-line/arcs of the show but I'm adding in a few OCs (One main one) and I'm going to try and add as much about her as possible. (So there won't be chapters where she's barely in them.) Not every scene will have her but she is the main character of my/this story.**

 **I'm still debating with myself what pairing I want to do. (I don't break up Claire/Charlie Sawyer/Juliet or Hurley/Libby and probably won't touch Kate/Jack.) I'm a sucker for villains/bad guys so I'm leaning towards Ben more than other survivors but that might change.**

 **I'm doing this kinda like the show where it jumps back and forth sometimes between present (on island/after crash) and past. I'm not gunna label them like "Past" and "Present" but there will be line breaks and it'll be fairly easy to figure out which is which within the first few word to sentences.**

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Melanie swallowed a mouthful of salt water before she was able to break the surface and take a breath. The sounds of screams and an engine whirling hit her ears briefly before she went under again. Another gulp of water filled her mouth as she struggled to get back above the water. She managed to scream the next time she came up but in doing so emptied her lungs of air. As she went to gasp for air her head went under.

. . .

Her knee bounced as she chewed on her bottom lip. The man to her right looked a bit annoyed at the constant movement. Melanie stopped her leg and avoided looking at the man. Her seat-belt was still on; as it had been on since she'd sat down. She hugged herself slightly and picked at the skin of her arm through her sleeve. The plane hit a small bit of turbulence and her eyes shut tight immediately. There was a soft _ding_ as the pilot turned on the _Fasten Seat-belts_ sign. A flight attendant came on over the speaker a moment later to make sure everyone knew.

The Iraqi man who sat to Melanie's left, watched her a moment as she slowly opened her eyes.

"It's only turbulence." He said to her. She jumped slightly as she turned her head to look at him; she didn't expect him – or anyone else for that matter – to talk to her.

"I-I know." She said quietly.

"Is this your first time flying?" he asked. Melanie shook her head and held up two fingers with a weak smile. The man chuckled slightly. "It'll be over before you know it." He assured her. The plane shook again making Melanie gasp and grip the seat-belt. She let out a slow breath.

"It can't be over soon enough." Melanie said with another weak smile. The man chuckled. More shaking and the plane creaked loudly as it shook some more. A few lights flickered. Melanie closed her eyes and tried her best to keep her breathing calm. Suddenly the plane lurched violently; a few passengers who weren't buckled flew up and hit the ceiling before crashing back down along with luggage from the overhead compartments. Everyone was shouting as the plane continued to shake. An alarm was blaring and soon the oxygen masks dropped down. Melanie reached for hers but the plane falling made it hard for her to grab. The Iraqi man, who had already put his mask on, grabbed the swinging mask and put it over her mouth. Melanie squeezed her eyes shut tightly as she gripped onto her seat with all her strength.

. . .

Amidst the chaos of the crash, Jack ran up to a man, Boone, who was incorrectly administering CPR to an unconscious black woman, Rose.

"Stop! Her head's not tilted far back enough. You're blowing air into her stomach." Jack said as he tilted Rose's head

"You sure?" Boone asked. Jack started to give her mouth-to-mouth. "That's exactly what I was doing. I'm a lifeguard. I'm licensed."

"Yeah, well, you need to seriously think about giving that license back." Jack said as he listened for her breathing.

"Maybe we should do one of those hole things. You know, stick the pen in the throat?"

"Yeah, good idea." Jack said sarcastically. "You go-" Jack stopped as he heard a faint scream. He looked up and saw the woman in the water going under. Jack pointed and Boone turned around to see her. "Go! Get her out of the water!" Boone scrambled to get up before he ran into the water and swam out to her. She wasn't moving when he reached her; her body had been sinking slowly. Boone lifted her head out of the water and swam her to the shore. He pulled her up onto the beach as the wing of the plane started to creak loudly. Boone heard Jack shouting as the wing started to fall. It hit the ground and exploded on impact sending Jack, a pregnant woman, Claire, and a large man, Hurley, to the ground.

"Hey!" Boone shouted as he pulled the woman further away from the water. He moved her long brown hair that was stuck to her face and put a hand above her mouth to feel for her breath. "Hey!" As Jack stood he looked over to see him. "She's not breathing!" Jack ran over before Boone could attempt to revive her and started to administer CPR, the correct way.

"Come on." He muttered as he pushed on her chest.

. . .

"I told you we should have booked our return tickets the same time we booked the ones to get here." Melanie said before she bit her lip.

"Hey." Stacy, a blonde woman around her age, said as she poked her friend in the cheek. "Stop that." Melanie released her bottom lip before letting out a sigh. Stacy frowned apologetically. "I'm sorry, okay. You were fine on the way here though."

"Fine? Do you not remember me crushing your hand the whole way?" Melanie asked. Stacy grimace and shook her hand out a few times.

"I remember." She said. "I just meant you kept relatively calm. Besides this isn't going to be your first time flying anymore."

"I know but… I don't want to sit next to random strangers." Melanie felt pathetic as she whined but she couldn't help it that she got nervous around people she didn't know.

"Hey, strangers are just friends you haven't met yet."

"I hate that phrase." Melanie muttered as her hand went to her mouth, she started to bite her already short nails. Stacy rolled her eyes and nudged the younger girl's arm with her own.

"I wish you would stop doing that." She said. Melanie blinked and took her hand away from her mouth. Most times she didn't even realize when she did it; it had become an unhealthy habit but it was better than other alternatives. "Here," Stacy reached into her pocket before handing something to Melanie. "If you're going to chew something at least let it taste good."

"I'm not that big on gum." Melanie said.

"You told me you don't like mint gum, that's not mint." Stacy said as she pointed to the pack. Melanie smiled slightly.

"Thanks." She said.

"Come on, we're boarding soon."

"Thirteen hours of hell, here I come." Melanie muttered as the two started walking.

"Come on, grumpy gus." Stacy said.

"I'd feel better if I could at least see you from my seat." Melanie said.

"I know; I don't know how you'll survive without this beautiful sight." Stacy said with a dramatic sigh. Melanie smiled and rolled her eyes.

"Well at least I won't have to hear you snoring if you fall asleep."

"Snore- Hey!" Stacy bumped the girl with her shoulder and the two laughed.

. . .

Melanie coughed up the water she'd swallowed, turning onto her side as best she could. A hand on her back helped her as she continued to cough.

"Hey. You're alright." Jack said. Melanie gasped for breath, a loud wheezing came from her throat as she got as much air as she could. "Hey." She coughed more and grabbed at her throat instinctively.

"Do you use an inhaler?" Boone asked immediately. Melanie grabbed at her pocket and pulled out a plastic baggie, inside was a cell phone and a red asthma inhaler. Jack grabbed the bag and opened it for her before handing her the inhaler. She pumped the inhaler twice as she inhaled sharply.

"Better?" The man asked. Melanie nodded as she coughed a few more times, less violently. "What's your name?"

"M-Mel… Melanie." Her breathing calmed down and Jack helped her sit up.

"My name's Jack." He said. She looked around, saw the smoke, the plane and the other passengers. "What…?"

"We crashed... there wasn't a storm… I don't know what happened."

"Do we know where we are?" Melanie asked. Jack turned his head to look out at the ocean before looking back at her. He shook his.

"You're okay now?"

"Yeah. I'm good." Melanie nodded. Jack got up and left in search of something.

"Boone."

"What?" Melanie turned to look up at him.

"My name." he said.

"Oh." Melanie looked around and saw a few bodies of the people who didn't make it. "Where's the rest of the plane?" She stood, with the help of Boone, and looked around. Boone shook his head. "You… Have you seen a blonde- short blonde haired girl with-" She motioned to her shirt. "A _Green Day_ shirt?" Boone shook his head.

"No, I don't think so. Sorry." Boone shook his head. "Was she sitting next to you?" Melanie shook her head.

"No… No we couldn't get seats next to each other." She said, her voice trailed off as she looked at the wreckage. "She was… at the back."

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 **Lemme know what you think ^_^ I know I have so many other fics to work on but that's just how I work, I hop around on what I work on. Unless a summary says discontinued I'll eventually come back to it.**


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: I came up with a summary for this, at the time it didn't occur to me that what I had put in the summary box might have made people not want to read this. Though, to be honest, I don't think many people read Lost fics anymore since it's such an old show now but I still wanna write this. Enjoy ^-^**

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The survivors of the crash started working on getting fires started for rescue to see. Hurley went through the fuselage and gathered up all the food into one area. Other people were pulling luggage from the plane to salvage what they could.

Melanie sat on the beach, far enough away from the water that the waves didn't reach her, and looked down at the pack of gum in her hand. Her other hand was playing with the Ankh symbol on her chain necklace. She looked around and saw Claire standing on the shore and looking down at her huge belly. Melanie turned her head to look behind her and saw the Iraqi man working on a fire. After a mini-mental self-pep-talk, she stood up and walked to the nearby jungle to pick up a few pieces of wood that were big enough for the fire yet small enough she could still carry them. She brought them over to his fire and he looked up to see her.

"You're alright." He said.

"I'm alive." Melanie said shrug as she put the wood into the fire.

"Thank you." The man said. "My name's Sayid."

"Melanie." She said.

"Well, thank you Melanie." He said with a small smile. She nodded and went to go get some more wood. Melanie past Sawyer as he threw down a cigarette he'd been smoking. He turned around to see her and watched her for a moment before walking away.

Melanie finished adding wood to one of the smaller fires before she rubbed her hands together to brush off any dirt. There were groups of people sitting around the fires as it was starting to get dark. Some people stood around the biggest fire in the middle. Everyone was talking amongst themselves and occasionally looking out at the ocean for any signs of rescue.

The only people she really knew so far were Sayid, Jack and Boone. Boone was sitting with his sister, Shannon, by themselves but Shannon reminded Melanie of a preppy high school girl so she thought it'd be best to avoid her. Jack was in a group, occasionally checking up on anyone who got hurt in the crash. Sayid was sitting on a log, a man sitting beside him, but the least amount of people around them. She walked up to them and motioned to the log as Sayid looked up. He nodded and she sat down. Melanie glanced over at the man on the other side of Sayid who was writing something on his taped fingers with pen. He happened to notice her looking at him and nodded in a greeting.

"I'm Charlie." He said.

"Melanie." She said quietly as she wrapped her arms around herself and stared into the fire.

. . .

"You think they would have come by now." Sayid said.

" Huh? Who?" Charlie asked.

"Anyone." Sayid said. Melanie looked up at the stars before looking around at everyone else. She saw Jack examining the marshal that was on the plane, Kate stood above them. The man was unconscious; he'd gotten shrapnel embedded in his abdomen and a wound to the head.

Hurley walked around with the plane food in a tray and passed out the small meals. When he got to the log where Melanie sat she shook her head but motioned to give the food to Sayid or Charlie.

"Not hungry?" Hurley asked.

"Not much of an appetite." She said in a small voice, her eyes on the fire.

Suddenly there was a loud metallic like sound that came from the jungle. Everyone on the beach looked towards it. They could hear branches crunching as if something giant were walking through the trees. There was a low growl like sound. A few people got up, including Sayid who walked towards the sounds.

"That was weird, right?" Charlie asked as he stood.

"Is that Vincent?" Walt, a young black boy, asked as he got up and went towards it.

"It's not Vincent." Michael, his father, said as he got up to follow. The sounds got louder and they could see trees falling. Melanie stood up.

"Did anybody see that?" Claire asked.

"Yeah." Hurley said in disbelief. Boone got up and walked off. Boone got up, moved closer

"Boone!" Shannon called after him. Suddenly a roaring echo filled the air making Melanie's breath catch in her throat. Everyone gathered together to watch as some trees moved while others were smashed.

"Terrific." Charlie said. The noises started to head away from them and slowly everyone returned to their fires. Sayid returned to where Melanie stood, staring out into the jungle.

"Melanie?" he asked. She didn't respond so he reached out and touched her arm which made her jump. "Are you alright?" he asked. She nodded before sitting back down. Sleep never came for her that night and she had a feeling it would be a while before it did.

. . .

The next morning everyone was talking about the noises they'd heard the night before. Melanie could hear them from where she sat by the shore.

"It didn't sound like an animal. Not exactly, I mean." Michael said.

"That sound that it made, I keep thinking that there was something really familiar about it." Rose said.

"Really? Where are you from?" Shannon asked

"The Bronx." Rose answered.

"Might be monkeys. It's monkeys, right?" Charlie asked.

"Sure it's monkeys. It's Monkey Island." Sawyer said.

"Technically, you know, we don't even know if we're on an island." Hurley said.

"We're on an Island." Sayid said.

Melanie turned her attention to the waves. She held her necklace and she closed her eyes. It wasn't easy but she managed to tune everything out but the sounds of the waves. She didn't like silence but she could think better without random bits of chatter. A moment later she opened her eyes and looked towards the fuselage. She got up and headed towards it. Hurley was already by it, looking inside.

"Hey." He said with a grim expression. Melanie nodded in a greeting but didn't look at him. "There's… a lot of bodies…" He said before he looked out over to a group of people. "Think we should… bury them?" Melanie shrugged as she slowly walked in, careful around the bodies, and looked around. "What are you looking for?"

"A-Anything useful." She said quietly. Hurley nodded.

"I'm gunna…" he looked over at Michael, Walt, Charlie, Sayid, Boone and Shannon, who sat in a group. "I'm gunna go talk to them." He looked back at Melanie and saw she wasn't really listening anymore. She glanced over as he walked away before she opened a compartment and found what she was looking for.

Jack, Kate and Charlie headed out to find the cockpit. Kate had apparently seen smoke which they assumed to be where the front of the plane had crashed. It wasn't long after they left the thunder rumbled and the sky darkened abnormally fast. It started to downpour as if someone had flipped a switch and everyone hurried to find shelter from the rain. The only ones who didn't were John Locke, and Melanie.

Locke was in a sort of meditation pose as he held his arms out, turned his face up to the rain, seeming happy. Melanie on the other hand let the rain hide her tears as she thought about Stacy being gone forever, never seeing her family again, and being stuck on an island surrounded by strangers.

Trees in the jungle were knocked over as signs of the Monster returning to the area. Everyone was under some sort of cover, the wing of the plane or a tarp; they saw the trees and heard the noises even over the rain.

. . .

The rain stopped as suddenly as it started. Melanie wiped the hair out of her face, wiping away any leftover tears. She sniffled and wiped her nose on her drenched sleeve. Everyone started to come out from under their shelters and started getting all the luggage together.

Melanie remained away from everyone else but got up to gather some sticks to dry them out in the sun. She had gotten a piece of metal from the plane, small enough to fit in her hand, and took an oxygen mask to hold it so she wouldn't cut her hand open. She glanced over to everyone else and saw that Shannon had found her bag and was going into the jungle with a bikini to change into it. Even further away from the camp were Jin and Sun, the Korean couple, who were by some rocks where Jin was collecting urchins. Michael came over to Melanie and asked if she'd seen his son, Walt, but she shook her head. He went past her to Jin and Sun.

Melanie was working on sharpening sticks to help hold down the tarp that sat folded up beside her. On top of that was a cup she'd found. Only a few people had asked her what she was doing and she just said she was making something to help. It's not that she didn't want to tell them what she was doing, she just wasn't comfortable with talking to people and her explanation would've been long. Suddenly she heard a commotion and turned to see a fight between Sawyer and Sayid on the beach. A few people stood around watching. Melanie got up and started to walk over.

"Hey guys. Come on, man. Hey." Michael said. Sawyer threw sand at Sayid and the two were on the ground. Jack, Kate and Charlie had just gotten back.

"Hey. Break it up. Break it up!" Jack shouted. "Come on!" Michael held back Sayid while Jack pulled Sawyer away. "That's it! It's over! That's it!"

"Son of a bitch!" Sawyer shouted.

"I'm sick of this redneck!" Sayid shouted.

"You want some more of me, boy?" Sawyer taunted.

"Tell everyone what you told me! Tell them that I crashed the plane! Go on! Tell them I made the plane crash!"

"The shoe fits, buddy!" Sawyer spat back.

"What is going on?" Jack asked. Sayid said something that sounds like a curse in Arabic. "What's going on?" Jack repeated.

"Look, my kid found these in the jungle." Michael said as he handed a pair of handcuffs to Jack.

"And this guy was sitting in the back row of business class, the whole flight, never got up. Hands folded underneath the blanket." Sawyer said.

"Thank you so much for observing my behavior." Sayid said.

"You don't think I saw them pull you out of line before we boarded?" Sayid tried to get to Sawyer again to hit him but both Michael and jack held them back again. "Come on, bring it!"

"I was sitting next to him!" Melanie shouted as she took a few steps forward.

"What?" Sawyer snapped as he turned to her and she swallowed. Her heart rate sped up as his glare was now directed at her.

"I was sitting next to him. He wasn't handcuffed. I mean… if he was being escorted by someone wouldn't they have been sitting next to him?" Melanie looked to Sayid who nodded to her in thanks.

"Look, we found the transceiver, but it's not working." Kate said, loudly, bringing the attention to her. "Can anybody help?" Kate asked. She glanced over at Melanie who looked at her but looked away when the older woman made eye contact.

"Yes. I might be able to." Sayid said.

"Oh great. Perfect! Let's trust this guy!" Sawyer said.

"Hey!" Hurley yelled. "We're all this together, man. Let's treat each other with a little respect."

"Shut up, Lardo." Sawyer snapped.

"Hey! Give it a break." Jack said to him.

"Whatever you say, Doc. You're the hero." Sawyer said.

"You guys found the cockpit?" Boone asked. Jack nodded. "Any survivors?"

"No." Jack said.

"It's dual band, military spec." Sayid said as he looked at the transceiver. "Chances are, the battery is good, but - the radio is dead."

"Can you fix it?" Kate asked.

"I need some time." He said before walking off. Rose approached the group.

"Doctor, the... man with the shrapnel, I... I think you should take a look at him." She said. Jack followed her back to where the marshal was.

Melanie glanced around at everyone before heading back to where she'd been before. She hoped when Kate started walking behind her that she wasn't actually following her but when she turned around and saw Kate standing there her heart sank. She could feel the anxiety of confrontation set in her stomach like a rock.

"Hey." Kate said as Melanie sat down. "What's with the tarp, rocks and the sticks?"

"An experiment." Melanie said.

"Experiment?" Kate's eyebrows went up. "What kind of experiment?"

"It's uh..." Melanie took a breath. "Well it's… it's not an experiment really but a…" she looked up at Kate. Melanie could feel her pulse racing making her rub her neck. She cleared her throat but when she next went to speak her mouth was dry and a croak like sound was all that came out.

"Are you alright?" Kate asked. Melanie nodded as she cleared her throat again.

"Water." She said.

"There are bottles in the cooler, I could get you one." Kate offered as she motioned back towards the main part of camp. Melanie shook her head.

"No." she pointed to the tarp. "It's for water. To get water."

"That's going to get water?" Kate asked incredulously.

"It won't get much but… I figured I would drink what I collect and leave the bottled water for… everyone else." She glanced up, not making eye contact, before she continued on sharpening the sticks.

"Why can't you look at me?" Kate asked.

"I'm not good with people. Strangers." She clarified.

"My name's Kate. You're Melanie, right? Now we're not strangers." Kate said. She slowly sat down beside her. Melanie's hands started to shake slightly. "It's something else." Kate said.

"You were sitting beside the marshal." Melanie said in a small voice. "I won't say anything." She added quickly. "I wasn't going to, I just didn't want that guy and Sayid to keep fighting."

"So you're scared of me?"

"I don't know you." Melanie said. She turned her head towards Kate but didn't look at her. "I'm not scared of you and I won't tell anyone. Promise." She said before turning her attention back to her work. Kate didn't say anything for a moment before she stood. She turned to leave but stopped and looked down at the girl.

"Thank you." She said before walking away.


End file.
